What's Next for Miguel Cotto After TKO Victory over Delvin Rodriguez

After a sensational return to the ring after a year-long layoff and suffering two straight losses, three-division titlist Miguel Cotto overwhelmed Delvin Rodriguez en route to a Round 3 TKO victory Saturday night at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

Starting the bout off as the aggressor out the gate, Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs) smothered Rodriguez early and made it a point to attack Rodriguez's body.

The body assault eventually led to Rodriguez leaving his head open for power shots, which Cotto took advantage of to hurt Rodriguez at the end of Round 2.

Cotto didn't let Rodriguez off the hook as right when the bell rang to begin Round 3 he was back to work, swinging away on Rodriguez. This led the referee to end the bout prematurely, giving Cotto the TKO victory.

After reasserting himself as a top-tier fighter, Cotto can now look forward to the future, and there are several big-name fighters to consider for his next fight.

Here are the top three fighters Cotto could face as he should see a considerable step up in competition for his next bout.

Austin Trout

What better way for Cotto to show that this dominating display wasn't a fluke than to beat Austin Trout, one of the two straight fights that Cotto lost leading up to the Rodriguez bout Saturday.

Trout (26-1, 14 KOs) and Cotto fought a bout with back-and-forth action, with Trout getting the best of him leading to his unanimous decision win last December.

The loss was the beginning of Cotto's career downward spiral and had many questioning if he should continue fighting at all.

With the seemingly refocused Cotto, Trout would find it difficult to reproduce the success he had in their first bout.

If Cotto could avenge one of his past two losses and string together two consecutive impressive wins, then the Puerto Rican star could find himself contending for a title once again before his career in the ring comes to an end.